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U.S. Needs Obama-Warren Buffet Economic Recovery Plan

Warren Buffet should become even more vocal. He should co-host with Bill Gates, a special conference of the super wealthy, to pledge significant one-time "contributions" for a special bank that would help co-finance the government's jobs programs.

[Black Star News Editorial]

President Barack Obama has announced the government's plan for economic recovery, which is a good start.

But there are more than 14 million unemployed Americans; more than 20 million, counting those people who are no longer searching.

Still needed is a large role to be played by private businesses and the super wealthy, including willing ones such as Warren Buffet.

President Obama is now promoting his proposed jobs bill nationally. Buffet should also be promoting his proposed special-"contributions"-by-the-very-wealthy proposal to the nation.

Meanwhile, Republicans, fearing a backlash from the national electorate next year seem to be developing some sense; they have not outright rejected President Obama's proposals to reverse economic decline.

They have temporarily suspended the if-it's-good-for-Obama-then-it's-bad-for-us dictum.

On Thursday President Obama announced a $447 billion package --a combination of employees and employer payroll tax cuts, employer tax credits for creating new jobs, new spending to keep state and local government employees at work, including 280,000 teachers, new spending on infrastructure and an infrastructure bank, and extension of unemployment insurance benefits.

The official Republican responses, including from House Speaker John Boehner, are that the proposals "deserve consideration."

Why, trala-la-la!

The Republicans' conduct, during the debt-ceiling debate, was shameful. It was a manufactured and diversionary crisis that the GOP hoped would pave the way to the White House; it ended up exploding in their faces and now accounts for the Republican lawmakers' 12% popularity.

Democratic legislators and the president also took a battering in their poll ratings; but Republicans suffered the most. The Republicans confirmed and affirmed the widespread belief that they would do anything to win the White House, including plunging the U.S. economy into ruin. Republicans would have been comfortable with a U.S. default, if it meant they could seize the White House at the end.

Polls now show that the public, by almost 70%, rate dealing with the economy as the nation's number 1 priority. That's why the Republicans --including even the reactionary Tea Party wing-- can't be seen as economic saboteurs.

Even Tea Party darling, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, recently said it was the role of the government to create jobs. That's where public works projects come to play.

The president's $447 billion jobs proposal is a good start. But government alone won't be able to reverse the slowdown in jobs creation or make a deep dent in unemployment or boost consumer and investor confidence.

Since the private sector accounts for more than 3/4 of the nations employment, businesses have to play a dominant role. So far, private corporations have acted shamefully. They have stood by and watched the nation's economy aflame while they hoarded the fire retardants --in the form of $2.5 trillion in liquid capital.

Warren Buffet's declaration that the super wealthy should be willing to sacrifice more towards economic recovery was welcome. He has said the super-rich, including himself, should contribute more to the government. More multi-billionaires and multi-millionaires should step forward and endorse the Buffet Declaration.

After Buffet's declaration, the very wealthy in France followed suit and contributed to their government's coffers. France immediately was able to raise billions of dollars to help deal with the deficit problem in that country.

In the U.S., Buffet should become even more vocal. He should co-host with Bill Gates, a special conference of the super wealthy, to pledge significant one-time "contributions" for a special bank that would help co-finance the government's jobs programs.

The U.S. government bailed out private companies, including the auto industry and the banks, when they all faced collapse in the beginning of the Great Recession.

Now private corporations and the very wealthy, as Buffet suggest, can play their role in bailing out the United States of America.

Pesident Obama has made his pitch. Buffet should invite his peers to help him complete his pitch.